Aliens and Us: Why humano-centrism?

[Kristian Fischer]

This is, admittedly, an old discussion (and probably one that's been touched on the Escapist forums before), but still... In entertainment, whether it be films, television or gaming, aliens are humanoid. A head, two arms and two legs. Why?

The reason goes back to the earliest of days, when the alien had to be either a guy in a mask or a puppet for technological reasons, but nowadays we should be mature enough to sidestep this humano-centrism and have audiences identify with something truly weird and wonderful.

(please note that I define "alien" as "sentient, intelligent creature that you as a player character can communicate with").

Lets look at some examples:

The first Mass Effect came with tons of interesting races, but only one that was really alien with a capital "A", the Hanar.

Remember them? They were basically sentient jellyfish, cloaked in soft lighting effects and speaking in weird, otherworldly poetry and metaphor. I loved them to death, for what little we saw of them.

The rest were just re-skinned humans: not saying that there were no interesting encounters with Turians, Asari, Elcor or Salarians, but all their mannerisms are too normal. There's a gigantinormous galaxy out there and only one sentient, non-humanoid race? Meh.

In Star Wars: The Old Republic we have a window into a world that's much older than Mass Effect, but still overwhelmingly humanoid. As noted above, much of this is due to the fact that the first movie trilogy was from a time when the alien had to be a puppet or a guy in a rubber mask, but now?

We have the Hutts. Yay for the Hutts. Big, fat, slimy bean bags who just sit there and yell, when they're not eating eels and giggling as people fall into their Rancor pits. I saw Return of the Jedi in cinemas when I was a young boy and was scared to death of Jabba, but now? Come on...

The rest? Rodians and Twi'leks and Bothans and Wookies and Sith, oh my! Even the Killiks are just not that interesting. Humanoids ants with blasters...

And it CAN be done better. One of the most iconic bad-ass alien races in entertainment isn't anything close to resembling humanoid beings. They're basically lumps of snot with tentacles that trundle around in armoured chassis and kill everybody. Yup, it's the Daleks.

They were made in an era even earlier than Star Wars, on a much smaller budget and they've endured for decades. For me, the appeal of the Dalek is exactly their alien-ness; yes, their basic motivation is the very human one of murderous xenophobia, but it's encased in a big salt shaker with guns on it. They don't need thumbs to eradicate all that stand before them.

Gotta love 'em, and that's the point: they're as far away from humanoid as they can be and people still adore them.

We could all use more Daleks.

 

[SilentCom]

Science fiction, especially older ones, had limited special effects so people had to be dressed up in costume. It is easier to dress people up in humanoid costumes than a big jaba the hutt costume. Also, people can understand, relate, or otherwise sympathize with humanoid characters better than they could with a jellyfish.

Is it realistic to have a bunch of humanoid extraterrestrials? Probably not. Does it work in science fiction? Yes.

 

[Kristian Fischer]

But it shouldn't be the ONLY thing that works.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

Because, looking at all the species on the Earth, the only ones that evolved to use tools were the ones with humanoid appearances. Humans, in particular. Now, this doesn't mean that we are the ONLY body shape that is capable, but in our experience it is. Added in the fact that its hard to conceptualize equipment that would be naturally invented by, say, a sentient jellyfish (notice the we never see Hanar weapons, or spaceships).

Plus, as said above, its easier to get actors to portray characters who look humanoid.

 

[Ordinaryundone]

If you want a more theme reason, its because Space Opera is supposed to be a science-fictiony version of The Age of Exploration, what with everyone getting on board their boats and sailing out into the distance, and meeting a bunch of cultures that, while different and exotic, share a fundamental similarity. In this case, they are (for the most part) all humanoid. Stuff like the hanar are too exotic; they don't seem to share anything in common with humans at all. While this makes them interesting, it also makes them difficult to write and integrate into a mostly-humanoid universe. Just saying "They're motivations are beyond human understanding" is a huge cop out and non-answer.

 

[BathorysGraveland]

Well, just take a look at The Thing, back in 1982. Humans created a fictional alien species that is too damn terrifying to even think about xD So we create them like humans to ease yourselves. Haha. Nah I'm not too sure. I guess we try and shape things after ourselves, I suppose. You often see in epic fantasy, creatures and other races that are very humanoid in appearance and sometimes personalities. I guess that may be the reason.

 

[FalloutJack]

-Snip-

I'm going to borrow from K-PAX a little and say that life will take the form of whatever is most efficient for its environment. How far that is taken depends. As for sci-fi, don't worry about it. We can't all have nightmare fuel bodies.

 

[Kristian Fischer]

Well, a nerd can dream...

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

In District 9 they kept the prawns vaguely humanoid so that the audience can empathise, according to Neill Blomkamp.

"Unfortunately, they had to be human-esque because our psychology doesn't allow us to really empathize with something unless it has a face and an anthropomorphic shape. Like if you see something that's four-legged, you think it's a dog; that's just how we're wired... If you make a film about an alien force, which is the oppressor or aggressor, and you don't want to empathize with them, you can go to town. So creatively that's what I wanted to do but story-wise, I just couldn't."

I think he puts it in better words that I could, so there you go.

The thing with Daleks is that they are always the bad guys, we're never meant to empathise with them. Personally it always irks me when a race in sci-fi and fantasy is completely evil all the time, unless there's some element in their background that explains it. Besides, sci-fi is rarely realistic or even remotely plausible in other areas, so why sacrifice this for plausibility?

 

[Terminate421]

It's our perceptions, would you be able to tell of someone is sad if they had 3 arms and 5 feet on 4 legs? Neither would I, I probobly wouldn't pay attention to what they are saying.

Also we tend to find humanoids more interesting and more common mostly because we as humans were created to walk like no other animal does, so shouldn't most aliens who are dominant on their planet be subject to that as well?

 

[Enslave_All_Elves]

who's to say that somewhere there isn't some beast that lurks in space eating planets and stuff? (and is not galactus)

 

[Lilani]

But it shouldn't be the ONLY thing that works.

It's what we do. Ever notice robots are the same way? We make them like ourselves. A head, two arms, and two legs. We do this because it's familiar to us. In our unconscious minds, it's the natural form of sentient life. Anything that doesn't have that setup isn't on our level.

Also, in popular culture like TV shows and whatnot, aliens being shaped like humans is often more or less necessary due to the medium. It's a lot easier to just put a human in a weird outfit and give them a funny mask or facial makeup than to build and animate some sort of puppet or CGI model. Plus, a human actor can convey those little subtleties in expression most puppets and 3D models lack.

 

[nekoali]

Why are most of the aliens seen in the old Star Wars and other older Sci Fi shows mostly human? Because that's all we had to work with. This was a time before green screens, CGI and advanced puppets. People in body paint or masks and puppets. For a good example of what you can do with that though, see the movie Dark Crystal, which was all done by Jim Henson's muppetworks.

In addition, it is a psychological reason. Humans are pretty egocentric. We believe we are the best form of life. So most aliens are 'like human but with X difference'. From a story telling perspective, it means we can quickly identify with alien characters. And if the characters are mostly human then body and facial language can stay the same.

 

[TheRightToArmBears]

In District 9 they kept the prawns vaguely humanoid so that the audience can empathise, according to Neill Blomkamp.

"Unfortunately, they had to be human-esque because our psychology doesn't allow us to really empathize with something unless it has a face and an anthropomorphic shape. Like if you see something that's four-legged, you think it's a dog; that's just how we're wired... If you make a film about an alien force, which is the oppressor or aggressor, and you don't want to empathize with them, you can go to town. So creatively that's what I wanted to do but story-wise, I just couldn't."

I think he puts it in better words that I could, so there you go.

The thing with Daleks is that they are always the bad guys, we're never meant to empathise with them. Personally it always irks me when a race in sci-fi and fantasy is completely evil all the time, unless there's some element in their background that explains it. Besides, sci-fi is rarely realistic or even remotely plausible in other areas, so why sacrifice this for plausibility?

Fookin prawns.

OT: Yeah, it bugs me too from time to time, but what do you want them to look like? I dont think we can really comprehend the many shapes and forms alien life could take. It could be completely different from us. But where do you begin? I dunno man. Its something I think about from time to time, but it doesnt bug me too much when im watching a movie.

Incomprehensible aliens is pretty much the basis of all Lovecraft stuff, but then again, we're not really meant to comprehend how they think of what they do either.

 

[Kristian Fischer]

I was actually thinking about Lovecraft (Yog-Sothoth, Shubb-Niggurath, Ybb-Tstll, et al) when I wrote the original post. Of course, HPL was never "mainstream"...

There's a reason none of his stories have ever reached Hollywood (and thank Cthulhu for that).

 

[Trillovinum]

I know a few races that aren't humanoid. (in the strict sense you give to it: two legs two arms and walking upright)

in mass effect there's the Hanar (like you said) but also the Elcor (don't forget them, they walk on all fours)and the Keepers (insects with four legs and four arms)
and let's not forget the Rachni


In Halo, there's the Hunters (essentially a collection of worms living in symbiosis)and the Drones (hive insects)


The Xenomorphs in Alien (and others)is also very... well alien.


never the less, you are absolutely right that humanoids dominate the sci-fi landscape.

(on a bit of a side note, I'm a bit of a sci-fi writer myself and I try to deviate from the humanoid model as much as I can)

 

[Greni]

Because, looking at all the species on the Earth, the only ones that evolved to use tools were the ones with humanoid appearances. Humans, in particular. Now, this doesn't mean that we are the ONLY body shape that is capable, but in our experience it is. Added in the fact that its hard to conceptualize equipment that would be naturally invented by, say, a sentient jellyfish (notice the we never see Hanar weapons, or spaceships).

Plus, as said above, its easier to get actors to portray characters who look humanoid.

Crows can use tools.

 

[Woodsey]

Identifying with something is not (totally) a matter of being "mature".

If its friendly, it needs to be somewhat recognisable. If its not, it often works better to show people something that's just not quite right.

 

[xPixelatedx]

Because human beings are very childish and self centered

One of the big pseudo science reasons we make aliens look like us is because most people believe only something just like us could reach the point we're at. I hear the thumb thing argued a lot, and to be honest that's pure, utter BS. Animals have no problem manipulating their environment, there are many ways to do it without a thumb. The problem here is people can only see this from the perspective of a person. We couldn't imagine how WE could have evolved to this point without a thumb, therefor - according to us - nothing else can! Like I said, childish. XD

Also, we love having our ego stroked. We want aliens to look like us because that would be nature basically confirming what we already think about ourselves; We're the best and nothing beats our design!.

Oh an off note we also can't really make any stores involving complicated relationships if the aliens are not physically attractive to us personally. Whats worse is anything that doesn't look human to us will remind us of an animal, therefor seeing characters interact with such aliens romantically will make people just as uncomfortable as seeing someone interact with a dog romantically. How weird would Avatar have been if the Na'vi looked like the prawn? Or if the Na'vi were actually those big, black alien panther things that almost ate the main character at the start of the film?

It would have just been too weird if the na'vi looked like this, no one would have liked the movie no matter how well done it was.

Tl;dr it's not that we can't make more interesting aliens... we just don't want to.